


because who would choose a daisy, in a field of roses? (i would, if it's you)

by nanasbyulie



Category: NCT (Band)
Genre: 90s, Best Friends, Crushes, Established Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, High School, M/M, Minor Huang Ren Jun/Liu Yang Yang, Minor Lee Donghyuck | Haechan/Mark Lee, Minor Lee Jeno/Na Jaemin, Music, Pining, Realistic, Songs, Young Love, basket boys, best friend renjun, break ups, daisies, fields, flowers in hair, swim teams, towns
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-03-15
Updated: 2021-03-15
Packaged: 2021-03-22 01:20:18
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 10,164
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/30030825
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/nanasbyulie/pseuds/nanasbyulie
Summary: Zhong Chenle was doing perfectly fine hiding his growing feelings for his best friend for the past three years. That is until Jisung, ever the altruist, signs up to be a basket boy, and no amount of self control could allow Chenle to not bid on him. Not when he placed his golden heart on his sleeve and tucked the daisy Chenle gifted him in his hair.
Relationships: Park Jisung/Zhong Chen Le
Comments: 24
Kudos: 96





	because who would choose a daisy, in a field of roses? (i would, if it's you)

**Author's Note:**

> For anyone who doesn't know, basket boys is basically where boys with picnic baskets are "auctioned" in a school to raise money, so like you get a lunch date with said boy, I guess? Also, this story is set in America for ease purposes, but I did not, in fact, attend American school, so don't hold me to it. It's also kind of set in the 90s? But take it with a grain of salt, because I'm an ignorant millennial and the only reason I set it in the 90s is because nobody uses their phones and I wanted to include a yellow Chevrolet lol. I also know there's legal restrictions driving at 16, but we're going to ignore those in favour of plot.
> 
> cw; underage drinking, parties, mentions of bullying
> 
> (also i'm not using chenle and jisung's canonical birthdays bc plot (or the lack of it), so chenle's birthday is in the late summer right before school starts, and ji's is a month and a half later, into autumn)

_I. BEFORE IT STARTS_

Before Zhong Chenle enters high school for the first time, Kun and Renjun feel the need to drag him out of weekend Chinese school to impart worldly knowledge.

“You’re just a year older than I am,” Chenle points out to Renjun, huffing, and Renjun spares him a lopsided grin. “Still know more about high school than you do, dummy.” He reaches over to ruffle Chenle’s hair, but the boy slaps it away.

“I don’t need advice. High school is just a larger version of middle school, I’ll be perfectly fine.”

“Famous last words,” Kun tells Chenle, and then he’s jumping over the back fence to the open road. Chenle raises a brow at Renjun. He grins back, hooks his leg on a small kink midway through the fence that Chenle had missed, and then he’s hauling himself on the other side too, looking expectantly at Chenle to follow. It seems like both Renjun and Kun have done this often for them to know the way out so easily. Chenle takes his time, placing one foot on the kink like Renjun, and then carefully scaling the fence, and letting go once he’s sure he isn’t going to accidentally scrape his foot on the unpolished wood. It’s not a graceful landing, and Chenle mutters a quiet _oomph_ before he’s standing up, brushing the dirt from his hands.

The late summer air is crisp as he follows the two older boys down the wheat fields and into the clearing, where Renjun tells him Kun hides his secret stash of vodka. Chenle scrunches his nose. Kun chuckles.

They settle down by a foray of trees — Renjun on a branch a little above where Chenle and Kun sit on the ground, sharing a packet of crisps between them that Renjun says he sneaked out from the kitchens.

“So,” Chenle says, “What sort of important erudition do you plan to bestow upon me this fine evening?”

“Don’t take AP English Lit even if you think you’re cool saying words like erudition, for one,” Renjun says, “It’ll make you feel dumber than are.”

“I thought AP English Lit was easy,”

Renjun scoffs. Kun shrugs. “I can barely keep up a decent conversation, I’m not going around taking AP language courses, Lele.”

“Fine, don’t take AP Lit. What else?”

“Don’t take unsolicited advice from a senior — they’ve already half lost their heads with all the college applications and standardized testing; they are just looking for a young freshman to misguide for fun.”

“You’re a senior giving me unsolicited advice,” Chenle points out, and Kun glares at him.

“Seniors apart from me, of course,”

“ _Sure_. Anything else?”

“Keep coffee at a minimum unless you’re in finals season.”

“Oh, and don’t drink on weeknights even though you feel certain you’re going to stop after a couple of shots. That’s your undoing and you’ll wake up the next school day with a terrible hangover and possibly have your money stolen off you.”

“I’m not planning on drinking until I’m legal.”

“Good luck with that,” Renjun says. Chenle raises an eyebrow at him.

“You’ve drunk before?” he asks. Renjun shrugs.

“I’m not a _drinker_ ,” he clarifies, “But I do accept the occasional drink on a Friday night party.”

“Which brings me to parties,” Kun says, and he’s leaned back completely now, eyes trained on the sky above them. Chenle follows his gaze and squints, the sun in his eyes. He looks away. “You don’t have to feel compelled to go to all of them, even if some arsehole makes it seem like you have to. You should probably go to the beginning of the year one though, I think Yuta’s throwing the one for this year. It’s sort of a rite to passage, unless you want to be picked on for your next four years.”

“I don’t want to go to a party,” Chenle says. Renjun sighs.

“You can leave almost _right_ after you come in. Just make sure enough people see you there — enough so that you can wave at them in the school halls and they recognize you. Once you’re in that situation, you can go under the radar in school. Otherwise you’ll be grouped in with the nerds, and you really don’t want to be bullied.”

“That actually happens?”

Renjun grimaces. “Teenagers,” he says, “Incorrigible filth who think they have the world at their feet.”

Chenle’s head spins. Here he is, sitting with a sixteen year old and an eighteen year old, himself on the cusp of being fifteen, and they’re discussing drinking and parties. Chenle thought the advice would be academic. Is he too innocent for his own good, or are Renjun and Kun normalizing the glamorized high school life?

“Oh also,” Kun says, and this time he looks pointedly at Renjun, even though he’s talking to Chenle, “Unrequited love isn’t fucking worth it. Especially not if you’re friends. That’s just a highway to heartbreak hotel.”

Renjun glowers. “I didn’t _choose_ to fall in love with the world’s biggest airhead,” he defends, “But he’s right. Don’t do it. I’ve been stuck in this hell for a year and I’m already this close to either punching him or kissing him.”

“Why don’t you do either?”

“Both of those options lead to a broken friendship,” Renjun says, his eyes faraway, “And I’d rather have Yangyang by my side as a friend than not have him at all.”

“Sounds terrible,” Chenle says, picking out a few more crisps and popping them in his mouth, “Luckily for me, Jisung is nothing like my type. So we’re good.”

“Hm? Then what _is_ your type, Chenle?”

“Tall,” Chenle says, “Sporty. Tanned.”

Kun chuckles. “As long as you’re sure you won’t fall for Jisung, I guess,” he says, “Oh, also, you’re basically describing the soccer team members, and you definitely don’t want to fall for _those_ arseholes.”

✦✧✦✧

_II. FRESHMAN YEAR_

By the time he’s two weeks into freshman year, Chenle knows he’s in _grave_ trouble. For one, despite his resolve to stay sober as a judge until he’s of age, he ends up accepting what _looks_ like orange juice at Yuta’s start of the year party (which his parents think was a friendly gathering at Renjun’s house, which means he’s already started with the hearsay tumble down of duplicity) only to end up gasping when his throat burns at the first sip.

Renjun finds him leaning over a toilet fifteen minutes later, trying to wheeze out the heat building in his chest. “Who told you to accept any drinks from strangers at a party? Can’t you tell the difference between regular OJ and a screwdriver?” Renjun yells out over the noise, rubbing circles on Chenle’s back as he tries to breathe. Chenle’s resolve disintegrates, and he finds himself muttering in resignation, “Well, you also didn’t tell me _not_ to do that either. And how in the world was _I_ supposed to know?”

Jisung doesn’t come to the party, and Chenle didn’t think he would. “I don’t want to lie to my parents,” he says point blank, and when Chenle tries to argue he’d be bullied, Jisung shrugs, “If that’s what’ll happen, I’ll deal with those consequences then.” Chenle almost pulls out his hair in frustration, but doesn’t push his best friend into doing something he clearly doesn’t want to.

Which brings him to his second problem — _Jisung_. Specifically, a certain growth spurt that the boy has had over the three months of summer he spent at his grandmother’s place in the village. He’s lanky now, standing a good head over Chenle, limbs not used to the height yet, making him droop his shoulders when he walks for a sense of faux comfort.

“I got really tanned too,” he complains, “Grandpa made me work in the fields with him every single day, and it’s not like I minded that, but the _sun_? I minded that a lot.”

Chenle keeps quiet, lest he end up blurting out that the tan actually looks quite gorgeous on Jisung. His hair’s gotten a little lighter too, quite possibly due to the same sun, and he looks like a boy off the cover of a teen magazine. The one with the surfing board and dazzling smile, inviting them to a beach vacation.

Chenle’s not about to tell Jisung that, of course.

And then a week into the semester, he comes to Chenle with, “Oh, I signed up to be in the swim team. My parents have been pushing me to join a club, and it looked like they needed members.”

It’s almost like Chenle jinxed it.

Tall. Tanned. Sporty.

Chenle is in deep, _deep_ trouble.

Renjun, being Renjun, doesn’t miss it, and as soon as Jisung’s taking his leave from their lunch table because he has to head early to practice to meet the coach, he’s leaning over to look at Chenle.

“What’s that you said about Jisung not being your type?” he asks. Chenle glares.

“Shut up.”

. . .

On a semi-hungover attempt to bike back home at four in the morning, Chenle ends up riding his bike into a tree and breaks his headlight and handle. He walks to Renjun’s house after instead, and returns back home later in the day with his broken bike and an apology on his lips.

His mother takes one look at his bike and then at him, and sighs.

“Well, you and I both know we ought to do something about this, right?”

Chenle nods. He’s not surprised his mother knows about him getting drunk — she’s very perceptive like that.

“Let’s keep it simple, you’ll walk to school for a month before we get you a new bike.”

Chenle thinks it’s a fair punishment, and later that evening, he and Jisung take the chance to deconstruct his bike in Chenle’s dad’s garage and put it back together in some semblance of what Chenle likes to say is modern art.

The next morning, Chenle’s out of his house at six thirty, a full half hour earlier than he typically leaves, to make up for the lack of wheels. His mother follows him to the door, ruffling his hair.

“You’ll get used to it, Lele-yah,” she laughs, and then pauses, “Good morning, Jisung!”

Chenle looks up from rubbing his eyes, and smiles lazily at his best friend.

“Good morning Mrs. Zhong! Thought I’d keep Chenle company when going to school.”

Chenle’s mother loves Jisung, and she’s beaming at him when he says that. He has one foot hooked over his own bike, helmet hiding his tuft of bronzed hair, and in the peeking sunrays, he looks ethereal. Chenle walks over with a grin.

“You’re so nice to my son,” his mother says fondly, “Have a good day at school, you two!”

And then Jisung’s unhooking his foot and swinging his leg over to get off his bike, and matches pace with Chenle as they start walking down the dirt road from his hilltop villa to the town. Jisung holds out a cherry lollipop to Chenle, and he grins as he pops it in his mouth. Once they’re a little further way away, Jisung gets back on his bike, and Chenle looks at him quizzically. He smiles.

“Get on the back. I’ll take you down.”

“Are you sure?”

Jisung grins. “You’re not too heavy, Chenle, I’ve given Jeno hyung a ride before. I’m sure I’ll be fine.”

“I love you,” Chenle says in an excited squeal, enchanted by the thought of not having to walk those five miles down. Jisung just chuckles, and hands him the second helmet hanging on his handle for Chenle to put on.

And then he’s getting on the bike behind Jisung, hands clasping tightly around his waist, and the sound of their laughter rings in the crisp morning air as Chenle makes a joke about something silly, and they’re a tiny, happy blip among the fields as the sun slowly rises up on the horizon.

At this point, Chenle doesn’t stop to consider why Jisung had had a second helmet ready, or why he’d frozen for a miniscule of a second when Chenle had casually busted out the _I love you_. He’s just happy he doesn’t have to walk, and that he’s got the nicest best friend in the world.

. . .

When it comes to trusting academic opinions, Chenle has concluded that Na Jaemin’s opinions should not be trusted. Don’t get him wrong — he thinks the doe eyed senior that Renjun introduced to him on the first day of high school is reasonably trustworthy when it comes to most matters. He’d been the only one who actually knew the process of selecting classes accurately, and Chenle is grateful to him because he would have been hanging on the waitlist for Math with Hanson if he hadn’t interfered.

But he also walks of a Physics pop quiz with a grin as he settles down next to Chenle. “That went well,” he says. An hour later, Renjun comes out looking like he’s seen a ghost.

“Well, that was _bullshit_.”

Chenle has come to accept that some people are just born geniuses. That’s the only way he can explain how Jaemin’s juggling two AP classes, a GPA of 4.0, being a part of the student council, varsity track _and_ having a crush all in his sophomore year. That, and a shit ton of coffee.

Chenle can barely even pay attention in Trig. Especially not when Jisung sits right next to him on the tiny rickety bench, their arms touching, as he twirls his pen around his long fingers and stares out the window listlessly.

“You’re going to the swim meet?” Renjun’s asking him now, and Jaemin nods.

“It’s right after track practice, but if I hurry enough, I’ll be there before Jeno’s set starts.”

“And you know his set because—”

Jaemin blushes, shoving Renjun lightly. “I asked Donghyuck,” he says in a whisper.

“Your Chem lab partner? Is he in the swim team too?”

“No, but his boyfriend is.”

“Let me get this straight,” Renjun says, “You made your lab partner ask his boyfriend about a fellow team member’s swim meet set so you could go see him.”

Jaemin shrugs. “Hey, at least I’m _trying_ to do something about my crush, unlike you.”

“We don’t talk about that in this household,” Renjun says, “Speaking of said stupid crush, I have to go meet Yangyang. He’s going to fail his French quiz today if I don’t help him out.”

Jaemin looks at Renjun quizzically. “You take _Spanish_ ,” he says. Chenle chuckles.

“Yangyang’s _that_ bad in French,” he says, “Even a Spanish student is better at it than him.”

Jaemin winces as Renjun offers him a shrug and slings his bag over his shoulder. “I hope some divine power lets him pass his quiz, then,” he says, and then they’re waving to Renjun’s retreating form.

“Is Jisung still in class?” Jaemin asks, turning towards Chenle. He nods. Over the course of the past few weeks, Jaemin has practically adopted both Jisung and Chenle. He says it’s because he thinks they’re adorable, and he feels the need to baby them. Chenle doesn’t say it to his face, but he actually likes it. Jaemin’s nice, and he’s made an effort to help both him and Jisung settle into the mess that’s high school. He’s been much more help than Renjun has been, at least. And he’s a good cook.

“His Advanced Korean prof extends class beyond set timings often.”

Jaemin grimaces. “Mrs. Go?” Chenle nods, and Jaemin shakes his head in disappointment.

“I usually get along well with teachers, but she was impossible. I’m glad I dropped out.”

Chenle doesn’t tell Jaemin that the only reason Jisung’s putting up with it is because as a Korean, he’s still going to come out with a good grade because of his natural advantage, unlike Jaemin who isn’t already fluent in the language. It wasn’t too hard for Jisung to pretend like he didn’t know a word of Korean when he took the placement test, given the usually dumb and innocent look he usually carries around.

“You’re going to the meet too, right?” Jaemin asks, and Chenle nods.

“Jisung gets nervous really easily,” he says, in a way of explanation, “He’d be terrified if he didn’t have a familiar face in the crowd.”

Truthfully, if it wasn’t for Jisung, Chenle isn’t the type to enjoy sports meets. He finds them incredibly dull. But it’s Jisung. Out of the corner of the eye, Jaemin spots the hastily put together rolled up poster that Chenle has stuffed in his bag, and smiles softly.

“That’s really nice of you. I’m sure he’ll appreciate that.”

Chenle hopes he does.

. . .

“You made a fucking poster?” Renjun says, barely holding in his laughter, “Zhong Chenle you’re something else.”

Jaemin frowns at Renjun. “Don’t be mean, Junnie,” Jaemin says, “I think it’s nice of him to do that.”

“I get it,” he says, “But _glitter_? Really?”

“That was the cheapest way for me to make sure his name would be visible to him, all the way here from the bleachers,” Chenle grumbles.

“Like you care about cheap,” Renjun says, not unkindly, “And you still refuse to admit to your crush on Jisung.”

“I don’t have a crush on Jisung!” At least, Chenle’s hoping it’s just a phase of him being confused over Jisung’s glow up, and he’ll be over it once his puberty hits him too.

“Whatever you say,” Renjun says, and before he can add anything else, Jaemin’s perking up and waving his hands wildly.

“Donghyuck!” he says, “Here!”

The tan boy Jaemin’s waving at spots the trio, and makes his way over, hands stuffed in his too large trousers. Chenle thinks he pulls off whatever abomination of an outfit he’s wearing only through sheer confidence.

“Hey Jaemin,” Donghyuck says, sliding in next to the boy, “Hi Jaemin’s friends.”

“Hey Hyuckie. This is Renjun, and that’s Chenle. Guys, this is Donghyuck, my chem lab partner.”

“And your unwilling wingman,” Donghyuck mutters, but offers Renjun and Chenle a wave, “Do y’all know your friend is a little crazy?”

“Oh, he’s bonkers,” Renjun says, dodging Jaemin’s attempt to swat at him, “But as his best friend, I supposed I should say thank you for playing wingman, as unwilling as you were. I’d had about enough of the starry eyed pining.”

“Eh, well, it’s not like I’m doing it for free,” Donghyuck says, “He offered to do my lab reports for a week. I wouldn’t be here if I wasn’t bribed.”

“You don’t like coming to your boyfriend’s sports meets?”

“I’ve been to enough last year,” Donghyuck says with a shrug, “Besides, Mark doesn’t really like talking too much about his relationship given how popular he is. He’s just trying to lay low. Me being in the bleachers doesn’t help.”

“Wait, Mark? Mark as in _Mark Lee_? The junior who won gold in the nations last year?”

Chenle might be new in school, but everyone knows Mark Lee. He’s been the pride and joy of Encity High since his win the previous year.

Donghyuck regards Chenle quietly. “I guess if you put it that way, he does sound super cool. Trust me, he’s a complete nerd. It’s adorable how flustered he gets in all the attention.”

Renjun chuckles. “Good for him, I guess.”

And then the second set swimmers are walking in and taking their positions, and even though Chenle wonders if he went a little overboard, he pushes the thought down and unfurls the banner he made for Jisung and holds it out. Truthfully, it’s not embarrassingly long or conspicuous or anything. It’s just conspicuous enough so that if Jisung wants reassurance that he’s got someone in the crowd, he knows that Chenle’s got his back.

Jisung does look up, and Chenle sees him visibly relax when he spots first the banner, and then Chenle. He can swear he sees a ghost of a smile on his face before he’s pulling on his googles and taking his place in line.

“Which one’s Jeno?” Chenle asks, leaning over to Jaemin. Despite knowing Jaemin has a, quite frankly crippling, crush on someone called Jeno, Chenle hasn’t seen him yet. He just knows he’s also a sophomore, and is on the swim team. Jaemin points at the athletic boy at the end of the aisle. Well, at least Jaemin’s got good taste, Chenle thinks, because even from a distance, he can tell Jeno is drop dead gorgeous. Still, he’s not Chenle’s type.

Chenle understands little about how the competition works, really. Jisung had tried to explain it to him the previous week, but after realizing Chenle couldn’t really keep up, he’d sighed and given up. Chenle, instead, just keeps his eyes on Jisung. As long as Jisung does well, he doesn’t really care much about how the whole competition works.

Jisung ranks third in his set (Jeno ranks first, and Jaemin whoops a little too loud), and Chenle feels his heart soar. For a boy who’d just joined the team among several seniors, it’s quite an achievement, and when Donghyuck says they should go down and congratulate them, Chenle’s already out of his seat.

“Jisung!” he says, as soon as the taller boy sees him approaching, and Jisung offers him a shy, embarrassed smile, “You did _so_ well! I’m so proud of you!”

Jisung blushes even more. “Thanks, Chenle-yah,” he says, “I saw your banner. That was really nice of you.”

“Just wanted you to know I’m here,” Chenle says with a shrug. Jisung looks back at Renjun and Jaemin who’re crowded with Donghyuck and two other boys — one’s Jeno, Chenle recognizes from Jaemin having pointed him out, and so the second one must be Mark.

“Oh? Jaemin hyung and Renjun hyung are here too?”

“Apparently Jaemin asked his chem lab partner’s boyfriend to discreetly help introduce him to his crush,” Chenle says, but even as he says it, he realizes how confusing it sounds, and he waves his hand, “Anyways, in conclusion, Jaemin’s just trying to make his crush aware of his existence.”

“Oh,” Jisung says, running his hand through his wet hair, and Chenle tries his hardest not to get distracted by it, “Who does he have a crush on?”

“Jeno,” Chenle says, and Jisung’s eyes widen.

“Jeno hyung?” he says, and Chenle assumes they’re acquainted, “Hm— I didn’t think he would be Jaemin hyung’s style, but now that I think about it . . . I see it. I guess. I don’t know.”

Chenle chuckles. “Don’t think about it,” he tells Jisung, “Our brains weren’t made to think too hard anyways.”

Jisung laughs and agrees, and they make their way to join the others and witness Jaemin’s failed attempts to get Jeno to pay attention to him. Cute.

✦✧✦✧

_III. SOPHOMORE YEAR_

There are a few differences in life as Chenle goes from freshman year into sophomore year. One — Jaemin’s managed to snag a boyfriend in Jeno. Chenle still thinks it’s some sort of voodoo, because they go from Jeno being innocently oblivious to Jaemin’s existence, given his one track focus on swimming, to joining them at lunch and trying to discreetly hold hands with Jaemin under the table and not blushing. They’re not that discreet.

With that, Mark and Donghyuck also start joining them for lunch, so their tiny group of five (although Yangyang usually ends up missing lunch to revise for French) has now expanded to eight.

Two— Chenle’s given up on trying to convince himself, or Renjun, that his feelings for Jisung are purely platonic. Not after the several mental breakdowns Renjun’s been privy to when Chenle needed a friend — it’s not like he could go to Jisung when Jisung was the main character of said breakdowns.

Three— Chenle’s also decided he has no inclination whatsoever to let Jisung know of this silly little crush. Renjun’s words from before come rushing back to Chenle, and he’s right. Just like Renjun would much rather have Yangyang by his side as a friend than not at all, Chenle would have Jisung by his side as a friend than not at all.

Jisung’s been his best friend for eight years. He’ll move on from whatever little spell this is, Chenle thinks, but he can’t imagine losing Jisung over it.

Four— he’s gotten a car, and it’s made life much easier.

Over the summer, once he’s close to turning sixteen, his father taught him how to drive. The day he turns sixteen, they sign him up for a driving test, and now, he’s a proud holder of a driving permit, and his own car. It’s a second hand, beat up Chevrolet, a chipped yellow that Chenle imagines was once much brighter, but Chenle’s already attached to it.

“Chenle-yah, you don’t have to come pick me up every day,” Jisung says when Chenle turns up to pick him up in the morning as per usual, and he slides into the passenger seat of the car, clicking his belt into place. Chenle clicks his tongue.

“Of course I have to,” he says, “Why else do I have a car?”

Jisung looks at him quizzically. “To pick me up?”

_No you fool_ , Chenle thinks, _to impress you. And get some more time to spend with you._

Out loud, he says, “You’re pushing yourself so hard at swim practice already, thought I’d give you a break.”

“Thanks, Chenle-yah,” Jisung says, so sincerely, and leans back, “Oh, also, did you do the pre-calc homework, or are we both going to struggle again?”

Chenle grunts in annoyance. “You know I can’t do functions to save my life,” Chenle says, “I was hoping you’d done it.”

“I don’t even know _what_ the homework is about.”

“Well,” Chenle says, “We’re screwed. Maybe we can bribe Jaemin hyung into helping us.”

Jisung laughs. “Yeah, let’s do that.”

“Your birthday is coming up,” Chenle says casually, “What would you like to do that day?”

For Chenle’s birthday, Jisung had bought him a model plane set Chenle had casually remarked once that he wanted after seeing it on the television, and Chenle knows Jisung probably had to save up on four months of his pocket money to get it for him. Chenle wonders what country he’d saved in his previous like to have someone like Jisung be a part of his current life.

He cocks his head to the side at the red light as he waits for Jisung to answer.

“I don’t have anything special in mind,” Jisung says with a shrug, and then smiles softly at Chenle, “I’d be happy doing whatever as long as it’s the two of us.”

Chenle’s heart skips a beat, but he pushes the feelings down.

“But—”

A loud honking forces Chenle to look back ahead, only to see the light having turned green. He presses his foot on the accelerator and sets off, glaring the at the car behind them through his review mirror out of unfair spite.

Before Chenle can continue what he was saying prior to being interrupted, Jisung cuts in, “Every birthday I spend with you is special, Chenle-yah, you really don’t have to think too much about it, yeah? Let’s go downtown to the diner Hyuck hyung works in and get some milkshakes, and then maybe you can drive us down to the lake. How does that sound?”

It does sound like a good plan, and so Chenle hums in agreement.

“I hope you know I want to give you the whole world if I could, Sungie,”

Chenle can’t see Jisung, but he knows the boy is smiling. “Me too, Lele.”

. . .

It’s one of those moments when Renjun’s being really genuine for once, as he sits next to Chenle and pats his back, their feet hanging off the roof of the Chinese School.

“You’re saying you accidentally told Jisung you had feelings for _me_?” he asks in clarification, and Chenle hides his face in his hands.

“He overheard me talking to Jaemin about how the boy I like doesn’t look at me like _that_ , and he asked later if the boy I was talking about was you. And I panicked.”

Renjun sighs. “I don’t want to call you an idiot, but you truly are an idiot, Chenle Zhong.”

Chenle groans. “I _know_ ,” he mumbles, “And the worst part is, he didn’t even look affected by it. He just said _oh_ , and then pulled me into a hug and said it would be okay. Isn’t that confirmation that he has never thought of me the same way?”

“Or perhaps that he was trying to be strong for you,” Renjun says quietly, “You can’t just jump to assumptions in this case, you know.”

Chenle sighs. “Whatever,” he mutters, “It’s whatever. I can’t expect anything of him when I’m not ever going to confess, you know. Jisung’s already so nice to me. I have more than what I could ask for, having him by my side. We should go. His swim practice gets over in half an hour, I want to pick him up from school and take him to celebrate his birthday right from there.”

Renjun rubs soothing circles on Chenle’s back. “You know how hard it is to find someone who cherishes you and understands you so much? You and Jisung are truly lucky to have found each other, Lele-yah. Maybe the best thing you can do right now is give your heart a break, yeah? Just enjoy the time you get to spend with him more than anything. Look at me. I barely get to see my two best friends anymore — Jaemin’s always stuck doing something at school or with Jeno, and Yangyang’s just spending all his time obsessing over his standardized testing scores. Man, I don’t want to know what senior year will do to us. Kun-ge sounds much happier in college than he sounded in senior year.”

“Man,” Chenle snuffles, “Junior and senior year sounds horrid. I’m surprised you’re hanging along okay. Even Jaemin lost his cool last week, and Mark’s been so _MIA_.”

Renjun chuckles. “The trick to not losing it is not having it together in the first place,” he says, making Chenle snort, “Anyways, I’m only faking it. Junior year’s been bearing down on all of us. That’s why I’m telling you — cherish all the time with him while you still can.”

“Mhm,” Chenle says, “I will.”

. . .

Despite all their busy schedules, all eight of them end up at Mel’s — even Hyuck takes off from his shift early when they come in, taking off his apron and joining them on the other side of the counter with eight glasses of milkshakes — six strawberry, a chocolate for Jaemin, and a double decker fudge one for Jisung, since it’s his birthday.

He flushes at all the attention he’s getting, shifting closer to Chenle when he gets overwhelmed as Jaemin and Donghyuck burst into the birthday song, and the rest of the diner’s occupants chime in.

Chenle laughs when he buries his head in his shoulder, and pulls him closer.

“I’m so embarrassed, Chenle-yah,” Jisung mumbles, his breath hitting Chenle’s shoulder, “Why are they like this?”

“Hey, it’s your day. I know you don’t like the attention or anything, but we all just want you to feel special.”

Chenle can feel Jisung smile against him. “I do feel special,” he agrees. And then Jaemin’s pulling him away to look at them. Chenle almost misses the way Jisung’s face constricts for a brief second, but it’s Jisung. Chenle’s had his eyes on him the whole time. He needs to ask him if he’s okay.

The next two hours pass in a blur — the eight of them occupy one side of the diner, and it’s a ruckus of embarrassing stories, truth and dares, and milkshake spills (spills, _plural_ ), and it’s already approaching four in the afternoon when Mark says he has a meeting with his advisor and has to leave, and Donghyuck says he’ll go along. The rest of the juniors soon follow, heading to their SAT tutoring, leaving Chenle with Jisung.

“Are you still up for the lake trip?” Chenle asks him, and Jisung nods with sparkling eyes. Chenle smiles, hooking his hand with Jisung’s and pulling him to the car, and they set off.

The lake isn’t too far off a drive, it’s right on the outskirts of their town. It’s usually quiet and peaceful, and there’s always a foray of shrubbery to rest on and gaze out to the water. Chenle and Jisung couldn’t come here often before, since it’s an hour and a half of a bike ride, but with Chenle’s car, it takes them only twenty minutes.

They settle down on a picnic blanket that Chenle’s brought along, and Jisung leans back on a tree, arms behind his head, and eyes closed.

Chenle takes that chance to also pull out the small cupcake he’d picked up before coming, and uses his lighter to light up the candle on top.

“Happy sixteenth, Jisungie,” he says softly, and Jisung opens his eyes and looks at Chenle in wonder. Chenle hopes he can’t see the dark flush blooming on his cheeks. “I know it’s not a lot, but I wanted to do something small when it was just the two of us.”

Before high school, it was just Jisung and Chenle against the world. Their middle school was small and had established cliques, and Jisung and Chenle didn’t really fit into any. That’s how they’d found each other — on the first day of grade three when they’d both been made to sit on the first bench given their small heights. Chenle scoffs, and wonders what they’d think of Jisung’s height now. Chenle’s also had his own growth spurt, but he’s still not as tall and lanky as Jisung is.

And as much as they’ve met such lovely people in high school, sometimes it still feels like Jisung and Chenle against the world after all.

Jisung smiles as he blows out the candle, and closes his eyes to make a wish.

“What did you ask for?” Chenle asks curiously, and Jisung sends him a deadpan look as he splits the cupcake in half. Chenle doesn’t miss how Jisung passes him the half that’s slightly bigger, but lets it slide for once when he sees Jisung taking a bite of his own piece before he can complain.

“You know it won’t come true if I say it out loud to you.”

Chenle huffs. “Whatever, I guess,” he says, making Jisung laugh, “I made you something too.”

Jisung looks at Chenle curiously. Over the past few weeks, Chenle’s gotten back into playing the piano, and joined the school’s music club. It’s been one of his best decisions, and he’s gotten close to several of the people in the club. It’s with their help that he’s managed to write this small song for Jisung. It’s scary to think Jisung would be listening to something Chenle created, but Chenle wants his best friend to know how much he cares for him.

He shuffles to pull out his iPod and plugs his earphones in, and gives one side to Jisung.

“You _wrote me a song_?”

Chenle blushes. “Don’t expect too much from it,” he mumbles, “I tried.”

Once Jisung’s plugged in his side of the earphone, Chenle hits play. It’s only a minute and a half, and a quarter of it is just Chenle playing the piano. It has hints of the late summer, of the soft breeze that tells them autumn is close. Chenle sings about the daisy fields that they frequent, and of the time they’d both gotten lost in the woods on the outskirts of the city.

It’s a song that replays some of their best memories growing up, and involuntarily, Chenle finds himself getting emotional. Jisung has been a constant in most of Chenle’s life, and he doesn’t think any words or songs are really a representation of how much he means to Chenle. Even without the non-platonic feelings involved.

When the song stops playing, Chenle turns to look at Jisung, and does a double take.

“Sungie,” he says softly, “Are you _crying_?”

Jisung doesn’t try to deny it, and instead only reaches forward to pull Chenle in a tight hug. “Chenle-yah,” he mumbles, “You don’t know how much this means to me. I love you; this was so beautiful.”

Chenle chokes on his own tears. “I told you I want to give you the world, Park Jisung,” he says, “This is only a part of it.”

Jisung sniffles, making Chenle laugh. “God, you big baby.”

“Shut up,” Jisung says, voice muffled, but Chenle can hear the smile in his voice.

And then he’s slowly pulling back, and Chenle’s arm accidentally grazes across Jisung’s abdomen, and Chenle sees him _wince_. His eyes widen.

“Are you hurt?”

Jisung tries to bring his arms in front of him to deny it, but Chenle’s faster, and he’s leaning over to pull at the two layers of shirts Jisung has tucked into his high waisted jeans, and his eyes widen at the gash running across Jisung’s stomach.

“What the _fuck_? Jisung, what is this?”

Jisung looks rightfully guilty. “It’s — it’s not too bad,” he says.

“I didn’t ask for your expert opinion on how bad it is,” Chenle says, because he’s livid that he doesn’t know what happened to his best friend, “I’m asking who did this to you?”

Jisung sighs. “Remember how you said I should attend that stupid beginning of the year party in freshman year?”

Chenle’s eyes widen. “They’ve been bullying you? For how long?”

Jisung shakes his head. “It’s fine, Chenle-yah. It doesn’t happen often. It’s just these two juniors. They’ll be seniors in a few months and they won’t have time to bother me, and I’ll be fine.”

“Jisung-ah,” he murmurs, “That doesn’t give them an excuse to bully you.”

“Chenle, I know it’s hard to realize because we spend so much time together, but unlike you, I am technically on the bottom of the food chain. I don’t ever go to parties or socials, and I keep to myself unless I’m around you or some of the hyungs. I don’t even know anyone in my grade apart from you. I’m pretty sure even my physics lab partner doesn’t know my name. I’m an easy target to pick at. And you know how this shitty hierarchy works. I’ll stand up for myself if I think they’re going too far, but otherwise I’m okay to take a few punches and keep living the way I am right now. I— I don’t want them to change me just to fit their mould.”

Oh Jisung. Oh lovely, true Jisung. Chenle’s eyes are prickling again when he reaches forward to pull him in a gentle hug.

“At least come to me if it happens again next time,” he murmurs quietly, “Let me take care of you. Let me shoulder at least some of it with you, Jisung-ah.”

Jisung wraps his hands around Chenle’s waist, and nods.

“I’m so glad to have you, Lele.”

“Me too, Jisung. I’m blessed to have you too.”

. . .

The cracks in friendships that high school life inevitably poses start showing at the end of Chenle’s sophomore year, with Mark getting accepted to a university across the country. Donghyuck right about loses his mind, and both he and Mark don’t show up to their table for lunch for almost two weeks. Chenle asks Jaemin and Jeno to update him on what is happening on either side, but he gets the same response.

“Relationships take work, Chenle-yah,” Jaemin says, “Looking from Donghyuck’s side, he’s taking a while to come to terms with the situation, and it’s made him a little sensitive.”

Mark’s trying his best to work with him, of course, but senior year and finals and practicing for his last high school games don’t give him too much leeway to invest time in the relationship. It’s — precarious to say at least.”

A week later, Jeno also breaks down in a similar fashion to Donghyuck. It’s just Chenle with him at the lunch table, with Jaemin being needed as the student body vice president, Jisung’s in Advanced Korean, and Renjun and Yangyang having decided to ditch the last period and get out of school after Renjun’s somber mood over his AP Physics test.

“It’s just scary,” Jeno says, “Jaemin’s set to be accepted and go to an Ivy League — it’ll be a surprise if he doesn’t get in. I’m nowhere close to being as amazing as he is. I’ll probably get a sports scholarship to some local university, and there’s that. It almost feels like that’s going to end us.”

“That’s stupid!” Chenle argues, “Jaemin hyung loves you.”

Jeno smiles softly. “I know he does,” he murmurs, “But I doubt love gets you anywhere in the real world. He’ll meet people who genuinely stimulate his brain and understand him like I never can, and he’ll come to think of me as boring and cumbersome. I’m not blaming him for it, I’m just saying it’s the natural progression. How long will just love make up for everything I lack? I’ll never be able to catch up to someone like him.”

Chenle and Jeno don’t talk often, so having him so vulnerably admit this to Chenle is surprising, and Chenle doesn’t really know what to do.

“I’ve, well, I can’t say much to that, because I don’t know any better,” Chenle admits, “Would you like me to keep your misery company?”

Jeno looks up at him, and Chenle can see him trying to hide his curiosity.

“You don’t owe telling me anything,” he says. Chenle shakes his head with a laugh.

“I see why Jaemin hyung constantly wants to remind you of how nice you are,” Chenle says, and thankfully, it makes Jeno’s lips pull up in a small, fond smile, “I don’t mind. It’s not even such a big secret, I guess.”

“Jisung.” Jeno says simply, and Chenle looks at him in mild surprise.

“Am I _that_ obvious?”

Jeno shakes his head. “I wouldn’t actually have known, I’m pretty dense that way,” he says, and he has the decency to look embarrassed, “Jaemin told me.”

Chenle chuckles. “Of course he did. Anyways, I’d say if nothing else, at least you and Jaemin got a chance at your relationship, to say _I love you_ or whatever to each other the way you mean it. I can’t even tell Jisung about my feelings without worrying I’m going to lose him.”

Jeno hums. “Have you ever considered such thoughts going through his head too?” Jeno asks, and Chenle tries to find any trace of a hint in them. Jeno spends a lot more time with Jisung than any of the other seniors, and Chenle wonders if Jisung has perhaps told him anything. But if he does know something, he’s doing a very good job of hiding it.

“Sometimes?” Chenle admits, “But a small possibility seems like too much to set my trust upon it.”

Jeno sighs. “You’re right,” he grumbles, “Misery does like company, huh?”

Chenle laughs.

. . .

“You’ve been looking at me like that all afternoon, Jisung,” Chenle says from his spot at the top of his car, and Jisung flushes, “Spit it out. What’s on your mind?”

It’s finals week, and Chenle’s hanging on to the brink of his sanity. He knows he’s just bubbled random spots on his Psych final, and he’s barely passing Calc. He thinks he’s done decently in Physics and Chemistry, but now Bio hangs on his head reminding him of his failures.

Jisung’s not doing any better — he’s most definitely flunked Calc and Physics, but he did do well in Korean and Chemistry. And he _is_ better at Bio than Chenle is.

“I just—” he pauses, like he’s thinking of the best way to put it, and Chenle just looks at him, letting him take his time, “What are you going to do about Renjun hyung?”

“What am I going to do about him?” Chenle asks.

“I mean, your feelings for him. Aren’t you going to confess?”

Chenle pauses, his heart hammering at his chest. He’s been letting Jisung hold on to that lie hoping it’d make it easier for Chenle to get over his feelings for Jisung, but it doesn’t work in the way that Chenle had hoped, of course. He sighs.

“I don’t like Renjun-ge,” he says finally, “I never did.”

Jisung looks at him, confused. “But you said—”

“I panicked and said yes because I didn’t know how to answer,” Chenle says, “Renjun-ge’s nothing like my type, I promise.”

“Oh,” Jisung says, voice small, “So who was it that you were telling Jaemin-hyung about?”

At this, Chenle hopes he sounds flippant enough. “It’s someone from our grade. You don’t have to worry about it, Jisung, it’s nothing. Maybe in the future I’ll tell you who it was and we’ll laugh about it.”

“Oh,” Jisung says again, like a broken record, but then gives Chenle a soft smile, “I won’t push you then. You know I’m always here when you need me, right?”

At that, Chenle gets down from the hood of his car, and settles down next to Jisung, pushing the pile of notes away. Jisung shifts closer, close enough that their arms are almost touching.

The water from the lake laps at their toes, and Chenle smiles contently.

“I know.”

✦✧✦✧

_IV. JUNIOR YEAR_

Their junior year starts with a blizzard of changes.

Mark and Donghyuck break up, taking all of them by surprise. “It’s a break,” Donghyuck says, after a lot of prodding from Jaemin’s side to open up and let them help him, “It’s not a _breakup_ , it’s a break. While we both settle into the new normal. And then, if the feelings still persist, we’ll try again.”

Chenle thinks they will be fine — Donghyuck and Mark, while a seemingly odd pairing at first, attract to each other like magnets. They understand each other better than they do themselves, and while they’ve had arguments before, they’ve always managed to find their way back to each other.

Besides, Donghyuck went and bought himself a phone, and Chenle would like to bet that the only person in his call history is Mark.

Jeno and Jaemin seem to have worked out their differences too — turns out Jaemin had his own worries about what would happen to him and Jeno after senior year, but they’d ended up talking through it and decided to take it one day at a time.

The third, and honestly the most surprising thing of all, is that Renjun finally confesses to Yangyang. It’s simple, over a game of cards as they all sit in the foyer in Chenle’s backyard in the summer. They’re not together, because Yangyang has never thought of Renjun as anything but his best friend, but they’ve not drifted apart. They’re still just as close, with Renjun giving Yangyang space to work through his feelings and give him an answer sometime.

“I couldn’t move on from him,” he admits to Chenle, “I couldn’t, and I can’t. But if I could stay as his best friend for so long, one confession isn’t going to render me unable to continue doing that. And I think I’d be okay. I’d be okay even if he rejects me. It was only after that realization that I could actually confess.”

Chenle wonders if he’d be okay too, to be rejected if he confesses to Jisung. Looking back, he doesn’t really regret falling for him — he fell for someone amazing. He can never regret that.

But that doesn’t necessarily convince him that he should confess, so in terms of him and Jisung, nothing has changed. And nothing much has changed in Chenle’s school life either, apart from Chenle ignoring Renjun’s advice and taking AP English Lit (and suffering), and both him and Jisung getting far busier than they used to be. Chenle becomes more invested in music club, helping them put together shows and recruit members. Jisung’s now one of the seniors on the swim team, and he’s been mentoring newcomers too.

He jokes that even the freshmen think he’s boring, but it strikes a chord within Chenle. Those arseholes don’t know how lovely of a person Jisung is, and it’s their loss that they never try to find out.

“Basket boys?” Renjun’s asking curiously when Jaemin tells him what the student council’s working on. Jaemin nods.

“Unfortunately we haven’t had enough people signing up. I get that it’s a hassle, but it’s for a _charity_! Why are people so selfish when we could use the money for a good cause? All they have to do is share a home cooked meal with another person. Or, the hell with it, they can buy a meal from the diner.”

Chenle sighs. “You know everyone’s just going to be raising money for the same few boys,” he says, “Maybe people are afraid of getting rejected. Or, on the flipside, they’re taken, or in complicated relations.” At this, he looks pointedly at all the seniors at their table, but especially at Jaemin.

“You know people would be going nuts wanting to score a date with you if you signed up, right?”

Jeno curls his hand a little too defensively around Jaemin’s waist. “Too bad he’s taken,”

Jaemin just laughs.

Jisung speaks up after a pause timidly, “What charity are you donating to?”

Jaemin’s eyes shine. “It’s a charity that saves stray dogs and grooms and trains them to be put up for adoption. We’re hoping to donate about two hundred dollars, if we can raise that much.”

And Chenle sees Jisung’s resolve crumble before his eyes. “Oh,” he says, “And, uh, what if someone’s not popular and wants to be a basket boy?”

“They don’t have to be popular at all! We’ve made sure that nobody would be left not bet on. If nothing else, someone from the student council will bid on that boy’s behalf, and make a new friend!”

Chenle sees the cogs turn in Jisung’s brain. Him and his soft spot for animals.

“I’ll do it, then,” he says, “I’ll be a basket boy too.”

Jaemin grins, and Chenle’s stuck between amusement and fear as to what this means for the both of them.

. . .

The basket boys auction is on White day. “It’s for the romantic effect, I guess,” Jisung admits to Chenle as they cook in his kitchen the day prior, “Given that there’s so many girls wanting to bid on the popular seniors and such, and they’ve probably given them candy on Valentine’s.”

Chenle shrugs, chuckling as Jisung struggles with cutting the onion and takes the chopping board from him, “Can you put the rice on instead?” Jisung’s a disaster in kitchen. But he’s also a sweetheart, and he wants to go through the effort of making homemade food for whoever he ends up sharing lunch with, true to tradition.

Chenle tries his hardest not to feel jealous of said person.

“What’re you wearing?” Chenle asks, and Jisung shrugs.

“They want us all to wear white shirts and slacks,” he says and then chuckles, “I borrowed them from my dad. Jaemin hyung also offered to do my makeup. I hope he doesn’t go too overboard.”

Jisung’s usual go to items of clothes are athletic wear — he goes around wearing his swim jersey often too. Chenle doesn’t know how he’s going to deal with Jisung in formals. And with makeup on? Chenle’s really setting himself up for disaster.

Instead, he says, “Jaemin hyung’s good at makeup. Don’t worry, you’re going to be okay, Jisung-ah.”

“I hope so,” Jisung says quietly. Chenle just reaches over to squeeze his hand in reassurance, and the smile that Jisung offers him in return makes everything alright.

. . .

Chenle’s stuck sitting between a bunch of juniors and seniors he doesn’t know because all of his friends get stuck in class right before the auction. Jaemin sends him an apologetic smile from across the room as the stand at the back, all chairs full. Chenle sighs. He isn’t even sure why he’s here. He isn’t planning to bid on anyone, and he doesn’t particularly want to be here to see someone else bidding on Jisung either. Truthfully, he just wants to go home.

But Jisung asked him if he’d be in the crowd so he wouldn’t feel so alone, and how could Chenle say no to that?

He’d turned up at Jisung’s house early morning on White Day to drive him down, and Jisung had turned up wearing his formal white outfit and his lunch basket, and Chenle had almost driven the car into a lamppost.

Just as he’d been leaving to go backstage for the auction, Chenle had pulled him back and offered him a daisy. Jisung had raised his eyebrows, and Chenle had tried his hardest not to flush.

“The student council managed to coax me into buying a flower, and I don’t have anyone else to give it to. Take this as a confidence boost, maybe?”

And Jisung had smiled his pretty smile and taken it from Chenle. “Thank you, Lele-yah,” he’d said, “You’re the best.”

And so here Chenle sits, having accomplished, albeit deceitfully, the goal of giving his crush a flower on White Day. It’s a small, insignificant victory, but Chenle revels in it, nonetheless.

“And now we present to you, this year’s basket boys!”

It’s a total of eight boys — most of them seniors, and Chenle recognizes Jisung and another junior, and a sophomore. Jisung’s fifth in line.

“ _Yo_ , is that that pipsqueak Jisung? And is he wearing a fucking flower in his hair? He’s such a _girl_.”

It’s the two seniors sitting next to him that snicker at this, but Chenle’s eyes snap to Jisung. And his heart comes to a lurching stop. Most of the boys do wear a flower — red roses, white roses, yellow roses — and most of them either have it tucked into their pocket, or in their hand.

Jisung’s the only one with a daisy, and he’s tucked it behind his ear. The daisy that _Chenle_ gave him.

The ceremony’s already started, and the first two boys have already been bid over, but Chenle’s barely paying attention.

“Maybe we should bid on him for the kicks,” the boy next to Chenle is saying, “What a loser. I’m sure he’ll be a mess if we do that.”

“Yeah, I doubt he has anyone bidding for him anyways, he only ever shows his mousey face at swim meets and in that silly little group of friends.”

Chenle feels his blood boil. How dare they talk about Jisung — his Jisung, his lovely, kind, soft-hearted, wonderful Jisung — like that? How dare they make him into a _game_?

“Next we have junior Jisung Park. He’s a part of the swimming team, and likes to listen to different genres of music. Can I get five dollars?”

The boy next to Chenle snickers and puts his hand up. “Five.” Chenle watches the colour on Jisung’s face drain, and he can’t help himself. What the _fuck_? How _dare_ they?

“Sixty two dollars,” Chenle says, putting his hand up and bidding all of his allowance from the past two months. He glares at the boys. “You’re arseholes,” he says, without a pause, and then looks back in the front.

Nobody’s bid anything over forty five dollars over any of the boys before Jisung. Even the teacher looks surprised. But Jisung deserves it. He’s one of the best people Chenle has known, and if people aren’t realizing his worth, Chenle’s going to make them realize it.

“O-oh,” the teacher says, and then, “Sold to the boy in seat thirty seven, for sixty two dollars! That’s the highest bid of the night so far.”

Chenle knows it’s most likely the highest bid of the night, period. And he regrets nothing. The two seniors stare at him. “He deserves the fucking _universe_ , you arses. How _dare_ you think I was going to let you bid on him for fun? _Fucking losers_ ,” Chenle says for good measure.

He’s then pushing off from his seat and leaving the row, instead waiting at the doors flanking their auditorium from where Jisung will come out. His feelings are all over the place. How has he been any better? He’s kept his feelings pocketed and never told Jisung just how much he’s meant to Chenle. For three years. Jisung deserves to know. Chenle’s going to tell him.

Jisung walks out from the door a few minutes later, and zeroes in on Chenle’s hunched form and beelines towards him.

“Chenle,” Jisung says as soon as he’s within the earshot, “Why would you—”

But Chenle’s holding on to his wrist and dragging him out. “I’ll explain. Let’s just get out of here first.”

Chenle drives them to the lake, to their usual spot, and cuts the engine. He knows Jisung’s been staring at him the entire way here, but he’s kept his lips pulled shut.

“Chenle.”

“You tucked my daisy into your hair.” Chenle says. Jisung pauses, raising his arm to touch the flower still tucked behind his ear daintily.

“Yeah,” he says, “I—”

“That was strike one.”

Jisung stops and stares.

“Then these arseholes — I’m guessing they were the ones who bullied you last year — tried to bid on you _for_ _the kicks_. You! Do you know how lucky anyone would be to have you? And they think they can bid on you for fun? They don’t deserve your presence for one single second. That was strike two.”

And then, he turns to look at Jisung.

“And this is strike three.”

“What is?”

Chenle takes a breath. “I like you. Hell, I _love_ you. Not just as my best friend. God, Jisung, I’ve had the biggest, stupidest crush on you since freshman year. That bloody growth spurt, that stupid tan, you being on the swim team, and just — you being you. Your lovely, kind, beautiful heart, your shy smile.

God. _I love you_ , Jisung.”

Jisung’s still staring, and Chenle gulps.

“I don’t want to lose you,” Chenle tells him, “That’s why I lied about Renjun hyung. Because even then, it was _you_. But we’re still best friends. That’ll never change. I’ve done fine being your best friend for the past three years, and I’ll do perfectly fine in the future too. But I had to tell you, because you deserve to know. You have no obligation to—”

But then Jisung’s reaching over to take Chenle’s hand in his own, and he’s smiling that devastating smile.

“Well thank god one of us has less patience than the other,” Jisung murmurs quietly, “I thought I was the only one pining after you all this while, Lele-yah.”

Chenle’s brain short circuits. “Wait, what?” he sputters. Jisung smiles.

“I’m also surprised,” he says, much calmer than Chenle, “But I’m saying that I love you too, Chenle-yah. I have a stupid crush on you too. I’ve had it for a while.”

And then Chenle can’t help it. He surges forward and closes the distance between them, his chapped lips against Jisung’s soft ones, arm awkwardly resting on the cup holder between their seats, but that doesn’t matter right now. Not when Jisung’s leaning closer and slowly tugging at the hair on Chenle’s nape, and tilting his head so he can kiss Chenle better. Nothing else matters when it’s Jisung.

And then they’re hauling the bento box picnic basket to their spot next to the lake, laughing about how they ended up here between bites, and holding hands and lazily kissing again and Chenle’s floating.

They have things to worry about, of course — they’re still juniors, they still have to explain this whole spiel to Renjun who’s definitely not going to let them live it down, they might still end up going to different colleges later and try long distance, and they’re going to have to tell their families (something tells Chenle his mother wouldn’t mind at all) and so many other things that could go wrong.

But that’s for them to tackle together when they come to it. They’re Chenle and Jisung. Best friends. Soulmates. Each other’s second half. Maybe they’ll stumble, they’ll fall, they’ll be idiots together. But as long as it’s the two of them, they’ll figure it out.

Chenle thinks back to all the advice Kun and Renjun gave him at the start of his high school career. He thinks about how he’s ignored absolutely every single one of them. _And yet_ , he thinks, _I don’t regret any of it in the slightest_.

Because high school is different for everyone. And as Jisung tangles his fingers in Chenle’s hair to pull him in for another soft kiss, as the sun dips at the horizon and the soft breeze makes the wheat crop sway in tandem, Chenle thinks he couldn’t have asked for anything more beautiful than this.

✦✧✦✧

_V. AND ALL THE YEARS TO COME_

They’ll figure it out. They always have. As long as they have each other, Chenle knows they’ll be alright.

✦✧ E N D ✦✧

**Author's Note:**

> If you've come this far, thank you for reading this! This started off as a potential quick drabble after chenji's candylab photoshoot pictures came out, but knowing me, that "short" drabble turned into a 10k one shot. The writing style here is pretty different than my usual style, so I'd love some feedback on it.
> 
> This fic is retweetable [here](https://twitter.com/nanasbyulie/status/1371290111862792195).
> 
> Please leave comments and kudos if you think this deserves it, and I hope you're having a lovely day/night (ﾉ◕ヮ◕)ﾉ*:･ﾟ✧


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